What makes breaking 80/90/100 easier once you've done it?

[double_j]

Here's what I've found:

Said another way:

99-90: Surprised when you hit the ball forward 89-80: Surprised when the ball goes forward and actually does what/goes where you want it to 79-70: Surprised when the ball doesn't do what/go where you want it to Scratch: There are no surprises. You've seen it all happen before and you've got a shot for that

[zeg]

Said another way:

Ha. I seem to be an anomaly from the sound of it. I typically play a Jekyll and Hyde round---half the holes are clean bogey golf. Playable tee shot, ball within chipping distance of the green on the approach, chip on and two-putt with an occasional par or GIR thrown in for good measure. The other half are 7-8 strokes with a few chips. My best ever 18-hole score is 98, my best back-to-back 9 hole scores were consecutive 48s for a combined 96...

So I like to tell myself I'm a near-bogey golfer who just has to work out the inconsistency. I don't want to face the possibility that I'm a 36-handicapper who sometimes has good luck......

[PooN]

I noticed that too!! Now - i get frustrated even practicing in the range b/c my ball flight isn't what i want.

Nope... now you know you have the ability to make every shot on the course. You've practiced hitting the shot before. You've hit the shot on the course before. You know how to get the result you want. Only now when you actually hit the shot and DON'T get the result you want you get angry. Also, the score is in play... at this level we truly know how hard it is to post a low score, so every little shot counts, and every missed shot that we know we could've made is like a slap in the face.

[GaijinGolfer]

Id agree its confidence. Knowing that you can do something makes actually doing it much easier.

[Doctorfro]

It's not easier. That's a myth. If you're doing it on a more regular basis then you've made significant improvements in your game. My goal every time I play is to break 80 and unfortunately I only do that 10% of the time. It's frustrating and drives me crazy. If anything it's harder knowing that you can do it but the internal pressure makes it even more difficult.

[sean_miller]

It's mental and when you're teetering between your potential and the wheels falling off, one or two bad shots can send you reeling. I didn't break 80 last time out. I should have had my low round of the year. On the front 9 I was thinking about how I could get back to even par (38) and on the back 9 after I peeled my approach on # 10 right of the #17 green (very large double green) into the mosquito infested long grass all I was thinking about was getting finished the round as quickly as possible and turned a potential up and down for birdie into a bogey 6. I was 5 over on the next 4 holes before I knew what hit me. Same swing. Same quality of shot to the green, but my putting brain took a holiday for 40 minutes or so and that's all it took. I suspect really good players don't do that.

[mdl]

For me it's totally mental. I had trouble breaking 90 when I first started, then did it and was suddenly an 80s player. The fact that I was working hard and practicing a lot of course helped too :)

Now I have the same block at 80. I've shot a bunch of 81s where I just need to par out the last two or three holes, or even a bogey and two pars, to break 80, but have on a couple occasions tensed up and choked big time and put up a double or triple on one of those holes. My last round I shot an 83 but put up 38 on the back nine once I realized my 45 on the front had taken the magic 70s score out of the picture and I just relaxed and concentrated on each shot on its own...

[max power]

Increasing level of skill/competency. Mental is part of it, but not huge, at least for me. Maybe a little pressure is gone (on those last 3 holes when you're sitting at 6 over), once you break 80-but just hitting the shots is the biggest chunk.

[The Recreational Golfer]

Just playing golf and not getting caught up in your score at any time in the round. In my best round ever (76) I was two over after four holes. I've double-bogeyed the first hole and broken 80. Just let go whatever happened, good or bad, and look ahead to the next shot. That's what does it for me.

[Chris223]

Confidence.

This.

Confidence means a LOT. At least to me it does. I've had rounds where I'll start off well, and if I have 2 disaster holes in a row or something, boom, my round is shot because I just lost all confidence in my ability to play well. When I start off a round bad I rarely play well at the end. When I play a solid round from the 1st to the 18th without any real big disasters I feel like going right back to the first tee and playing again, lol.

[Doctorfro]

I guess this only half qualifies for this thread but today I played nine and I shot 39. I bogeyed the first three holes. Started making pars but then nuked one over the green on the #7 175 yard par 3. Tried to get cute and hit a flop close but went right underneath it and went ten yards. Pitched the next one on but short. I made an eight-footer to save bogey and now I'm four over. If I make two pars coming home I shoot 40 and consider it a poor performance. Fortunately, I make birdie at the eighth and par at nine to shoot 39 and suddenly it's a good performance. One shot......one shot is Huge! Had I not made that bogey saver the round is a failure. For me, there's no margin for error. It's very hard to break the 40/80 plateau and it is not easier ( it would help if I could get off to a better start!)

[double_j]

I guess this only half qualifies for this thread but today I played nine and I shot 39. I bogeyed the first three holes. Started making pars but then nuked one over the green on the #7 175 yard par 3. Tried to get cute and hit a flop close but went right underneath it and went ten yards. Pitched the next one on but short. I made an eight-footer to save bogey and now I'm four over. If I make two pars coming home I shoot 40 and consider it a poor performance. Fortunately, I make birdie at the eighth and par at nine to shoot 39 and suddenly it's a good performance. One shot......one shot is Huge! Had I not made that bogey saver the round is a failure. For me, there's no margin for error. It's very hard to break the 40/80 plateau and it is not easier ( it would help if I could get off to a better start!)

I'm in exactly the same boat - 40/80 are my barriers. I tend to play relatively solid for 6 or 7 holes but have one or two doubles (or worse) that always make me end up around 41 or 42. Those days when I can go low don't really feel that special - I just happen to avoid the blow ups.

And to your point, the blow ups aren't really train wrecks - they're more often than not caused by one errant shot that leads to one or two other wasted strokes despite my intention not to do anything stupid (and this is really what makes them so hard to avoid).